Top 10 Richest People

Top 10 Richest People In The U.S.

It was harder than ever to join The Forbes 400 in 2019. The price of entry this year was $1.7 billion, the highest it’s been in the 36 years that Forbes has tracked American wealth. Last year you had to have $1.55 billion to make the cut. Because the bar is so high, 175 U.S. billionaires missed the list.The gap between the super rich and the merely rich continues to widen, as fortunes grow to new heights. There is now a record 2,208 billionaires in the world, hailing from 72 countries. Collectively they are worth $9.1 trillion, which is up 18% from last year. There are currently 585 billionaires from the United States. Their average net worth is a record 4.1 billion. This year saw 259 newcomers, with China adding 89, while the U.S. is next with 18 new billionaires. Even with such a strong year, 121 billionaires dropped out of the Worlds Billionaire List due to falling fortunes or political headwinds, including all 10 Saudi Arabians. The U.S. has more billionaires than any other country with 585 and next is China, with 476.Jeff Bezos is the richest American and the 'Richest Person in the World' for the first time. With $156 billion, he is the first person to break the $100 billion mark, passing Bill Gates who held the top spot for 22 years and is now in 2nd place with a net worth of $92 billion. His stake in Microsoft, which he cofounded 47 years ago, now accounts for just under 13% of his fortune. His friend Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, occupies the number three spot on The Forbes 400, now rebranded, The 400, and has held the position since 2001, with a current net worth of $82 billion. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who started with $15 billion with the IPO of Facebook, comes in at 4th place with $80 billion. (Continued below)

The Top 10 Richest People In The U.S. - January 2019

- Net worth: $137 billion, up $21.5 billion- Source of Wealth: Amazon.com- Age: 54- Bezos is the biggest dollar-gainer on the list.- Climbs into the top 10 richest on The Forbes 400 for the first time thanks to surge in Amazon.com shares.- In September 2017 he announced that his aerospace company, Blue Origin, would spend over $200 million to build reusable rockets and launch them into orbit from a site at Cape Canaveral by the end of the decade.

- Net worth: $98 billion, up $3 billion- Source of Wealth: Microsoft- Age: 61- World’s richest man for 22nd year in a row.- Fortune down 6% in 2015.- Gates owns just under 3% of Microsoft, which accounts for 13% of his total fortune. His private investment firm, Cascade, makes up the rest, investing in stocks, bonds, private equity and real estate.- How much money has Bill Gates given? Lifetime philanthropic giving of: $31.5 billion.

- Net worth: $85.9 billion, down $5 billion- Source of Wealth : Berkshire Hathaway- Age: 87- Fortune down $5 billion in the past year because share price of Berkshire Hathaway fell.- His net worth is down 7.5% since 2014 Forbes 400. - Berkshire Hathaway in August announced its biggest acquisition ever, agreeing to pay $37 billion for Precision Castparts, a maker of aerospace, power and industrial parts. In addition to Precision, Berkshire owns companies including Geico, Dairy Queen and Fruit of the Loom.- This year teamed up again with 3G Capital, a firm run by a trio of Brazilian billionaires, to merge Kraft Foods with Heinz. Buffett has joined forces last year to help finance 3G’s merger of Burger King and coffeehouse chain Tim Hortons. - How much money has Warren Buffett given? Lifetime philanthropic giving of: $25.6 billion.

- Net worth: $65.3 billion, up $6.3 billion- Source of Wealth: Facebook- Age: 34- In August Facebook had 1 billion users in a single day for the first time ever.- Net worth up 18.5% since 2014 Forbes 400, as Facebook stock rises by more than 25%.- 2016 - Zuckerberg cracks top 10 on Forbes 400 for first time.

- Net worth: $56 billion, up $1.8 billion- Source of Wealth: Google- Age: 45 - Google cofounder Sergey Brin, announced in August 2015 that Google will create Alphabet as a parent company in the fourth quarter. Their aim: to “get more ambitious things done”. - Page will shift from CEO of Google to CEO of Alphabet. - Google - including YouTube - is one of the multiple companies that will be under the Alphabet umbrella. - Google stock hit an all-time high in July 2015.

6. Larry Ellison- Net worth: $60.1 billion, down $2.5 billion- Source of Wealth: Oracle- Age: 74- Fortune down $2.5 billion in the past year as Oracle’s share price fell.- His net worth is down 5% since 2014 Forbes 400. - Stepped down as CEO of Oracle in September 2014, stayed on as chairman. - In June 2015 he announced that Oracle would expand its cloud-computing business, putting it in direct competition with Amazon.com’s Web Services business.- Both of his children are Hollywood moguls. Daughter Megan has financed films like Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle. Son David has produced franchises like The Terminator and Mission: Impossible.

7. Charles Koch(Tied With Brother David)- Net worth: $54.5 billion, down $1 billion- Source of Wealth: Diversified- Age: 82- Net worth down 2% since 2014 Forbes 400 due to market pressure on commodities and industrial companies Charles runs $15 billion (revenues) Koch Industries, the country’s second-largest private company with $115 billion in sales.- He’s been chairman since 1967, when the company was valued at $50 million; it is now worth an estimated $100 billion.- Political heavyweight compares his crusade for smaller government and economic liberty to the campaign for civil rights, and hopes his network of several hundred wealthy conservatives will spend up to $300 million on candidates and another $600 million on efforts to reduce regulation and reform the criminal justice system.

8. David Koch(Tie With Brother Charles)- Net worth: $54.5 billion, down $1 billion- Source of Wealth: Diversified- Age: 78- Net worth down 2% since 2014 Forbes 400- New York City’s richest resident.- Shares control of conglomerate Koch Industries with brother Charles. David runs the company’s chemical-trading business.- The brothers’ fortunes fell slightly in the past year owing to weakness in the manufacturing and pipeline sectors.

9. Jim Walton- Net worth: $44.7 billion, down $2.3 billion- Source of Wealth: Wal-Mart- Age: 70- Sits on the board of Wal-Mart.- Youngest son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.- FORBES estimates that he owns nearly 13% of Wal-Mart.- Jim is chairman and CEO of family-owned Arvest Bank, which has $16 billion in assets.- Wal-Mart stock is currently down 15%. (Oct 2015)

10. Michael Bloomberg- Net worth: $52.4 billion, up $3.6 billion- Source of Wealth: Bloomberg LP- Age: 76- Fortune up $3.6 billion since the 2014 Forbes 400.- He returned to the CEO role at Bloomberg LP in late 2014.- Bloomberg LP revenues are now estimated at more than $9 billion.- In June Mike Bloomberg announced a $100 million donation to Cornell University's technology campus in New York.- Lifetime philanthropic giving is $3.9 billion.

(continued from above) Larry Page, co-founder of Google, comes in at number five, with a net worth of $56 billion.Altogether the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth $2.34 trillion, up $70 billion from a year ago. The average net worth of list members is $4.1 billion, $100 million more than last year and a record high. About half - 202 of the 400 - are worth more now than they were a year ago, while 119 people from last year’s list had lower net worths this year. Thirty-five people fell off the list; another four died, including Subway sandwich chain cofounder and CEO Fred DeLuca.There are 18 newcomers to The Forbes 400 and our Billionaires List, including Evan Spiegel, the youngest person in the ranks, and the youngest billionaire in the world. Just 25 years old, the Stanford University graduate cofounded mobile messaging app SnapChat with Bobby Murphy, also a newcomer. Snapchat has been valued by investors at $16 billion. Other newcomers include private equity titan Robert Smith, the second-richest African-American, after Oprah Winfrey; and the three cofounders of rental-accommodations service Airbnb: Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia.

Surging tech stocks upended ranks near the stratosphere of The Forbes 400 list of the Richest Americans this year. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg both zoomed into the top 10 richest for the first time, just three years ago. The estimates shown here are part of the Forbes 400 Wealthiest Americans List for 2018 released in September 2018. The estimates are a snapshot of the wealthiest Americans’ net worth on Sept. 11, when Forbes locks in numbers and rankings. Some of The Forbes 400 become richer or poorer within weeks, even days, of publication. Forbes tracks those changes online at Forbes.com/forbes-400. You can also find more information on list members, including additional photos, videos and coverage of these influential billionaires there. Remember, even as we report the deaths of billionaires in our blogs, there will always be new billionaires, usually on a on a monthly basis, as companies and wealth grows, creating the newest billionaires of the future and the world. Thank you to Forbes.com for this info....